Reveller Knifed At Global Gathering

A man was stabbed in the head, neck and chest at last weekend's Global Gathering Festival, after reportedly becoming involved in a row with another man outside the drum & bass arena.

The unnamed 20 year old was hospitalised following the incident though not seriously injured, local news site ICBirmingham.co.uk reported. A 24 year old man was later arrested in connection with the stabbing.

Local police chief Detective Superintendent David Whitehouse told the BBC that despite the stabbing, he'd been pleased with the overall policing of the event which saw five people busted for dealing and a further 63 cautioned for drug possession offences (down from 81 the previous year).

Festival organisers Godskitchen also described this year's event as 'a resounding success' even taking into account the knife attack.

'This specific incident was dealt with effectively and efficiently and considering the size of the event we feel it is a credit it to our team that it was the only serious incident of the night', they said in an official statement.

'We continue to work in line with the police and the authorities to see that every measure is taken to ensure the safety of our customers. We work tightly within police guidelines providing amnesty bins and a zero tolerance on drugs.' they added.

Breaks DJ /promoter Ali B, who introduced the 3,500 capacity Air arena for the first time, told Skrufff he'd also thoroughly enjoyed the rave and has already agreed to return next year.

"I had a great time at Global Gathering and considering how many festivals there have been in the UK this year, I was quite amazed at how busy it was; I reckon they had close to 40,000 people," said Ali.

"It was the first time a breaks arena of this size has been attempted at any festival and by the end the place was packed," he continued.

"Breaks is a global sound, Global Gathering recognized this and were smart to be the first UK festival to put on a dedicated breaks arena. Air was so successful they have asked us back next year when I'm sure most of the other festivals will follow suit and put on dedicated breaks arenas too," he predicted.
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